Bowser’s breakout: Warrior TE catches 3 TDs in win

Sam Wilson, Olean Times Herald
Sep 14
4 min read

By SAM WILSON Olean Times Herald - September 12, 2025

SPRINGVILLE — After moving tall, athletic playmaker Payton Bradley to quarterback over the offseason, Salamanca football coach Chad Bartoszek had a spot to fill at his favorite position.

Now, in Week 2 and in their league opener the Warriors found a touchdown-producing tight end in the form of sophomore Camron Bowser. Bowser made three scoring connections with Bradley Friday night at Springville’s Pop Warner Field, providing the spark for an efficient offense in Salamanca’s 35-7 victory.

“I told Payton, I said, ‘man, that would have been you right there,’” Bartoszek said. “But I’m a former tight end, so if you want to catch the ball, you come play tight end at Salamanca.”

Bowser made five total catches for 123 yards and three scores.

“It’s good play-action stuff,” Bartoszek said.â©”He’s able to find some seams. Springville was bringing a lot of pressure. They’re holding this up, so we’ve got to connect. We’ve got to get better up top too. We’ve got to have a big-play capability.

“Cam’s a great athlete. He’s been a running back for us throughout the mods and his hands were there. He spent time with us in the summer, seven on seven. Now he’s just learning the offense. It’s, ‘where do I need to be?’ And you saw that tonight.”

BRADLEY SCORED or threw all five touchdowns on the night.

He threw three to Bowser. He ran in another, a 13-yard scramble in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead. And most athletically, he ran back a fourth-quarter interception for a pick-six of 35 yards. The final score of the night, Bradley’s interception marked Salamanca’s second touchdown in a 30-second span as the Warriors put away a team that had given them some trouble most of the night.

“What you saw there on the pick-six was his stride length,” Bartoszek said of Bradley’s running ability.â©”Once he gets out there, he has speed. He really does. But when we’re running a quick-counter game, it’s hard to see it.â©He’s got to break out and you get to see it. But he’s going to have to do that for us to be successful. Obviously, we’re going to go as far as he takes us.”

Bradley finished the night passing for 182 yards (9-for-12) and rushing for 54 on six attempts. Jesse Hill led the rushing attack with 14 carries for 97 yards.

THE SALAMANCA defense struggled at times to get Springville off the field (27 rushes for 114 yards, 10 first downs), but the Warriors made up for it with turnovers. Bradley and Remy Follman both made interceptions and Connor Seeley recovered a fumble knocked out by Tommy George, all in the second half.

Zai Escobar and Adrian Taylor both made sacks. George led the defense with nine total tackles, followed by Taylor’s seven. Springville ran 10 more plays than Salamanca (44-34), controlling the time of possession, but only cashed in one drive, a goal line touchdown from Grant Mickalski in the second quarter.

“I think what happens is if you force teams to run a lot of plays, if you bend and you bend and you bend, eventually, you hope that you’re gonna get that break,” Bartoszek said. “Every team’s different and really we got a challenge this year as a coaching staff to reassess and readjust how we coach, what our game plan might be going forward and how we’re gonna maximize our talent to be at the top of this league towards the end.”

The Griffins fell to 0-2. First-year Springville coach John Baker referred to his team’s character in competing hard with Salamanca.

“We’ve got a great bunch of kids that just play with a ton of heart,” Baker said. “We talked about that before we even came out. Play with heart first play to the last and our kids showed up and played with a ton of heart. That’s something that can’t be coached, this group of kids has it.”

Salamanca is 2-0 (1-0 Class C South) before playing a home game, as the Warriors host Clymer/Sherman/Panama next Friday. It’s a strong start for a program with high standards and plenty of new faces in big spots — and a nice birthday present for Bartoszek, whose players serenaded him with “Happy Birthday” and gave him a card after the road win.

“I mean, it means everything,” Bartoszek said of the win. “Football: you’ve got to respect the game. You’ve got to give so much credit here to Springville.â©What a a great place to play football on Homecoming. They brought out the parade, the fans, the pregame, the halftime. It was a real test for us to stay focused, look inside the huddle is a word we use often. You’ve got a lot of stuff going on. Find each other, and then the game played out that way. We had to, because they were physical and they were shifty and they had a nice little game plan for us.”